The Christmas Dream
by AmethystWren
Summary: One-shot. Posy is enchanted by the beautiful decorations in the Everdeen household. Seeing this, Prim and Rory come up with a devious little plan that just might bring the spirit of Christmas to the rest of the Hawthorne family.


**Just a light-hearted little Christmas one-shot, set before Katniss was reaped.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Hunger Games, or any of the characters you recognise from it. Credits to Suzanne Collins for those :)**

* * *

Posy pushed the hard, wooden dining chair away from the table and into the centre of the living room, where Hazelle Hawthorne would have no choice but to look at her little daughter, and climbed into the seat.

"Mummy," She drew out.

Hazelle looked up from the basin of soapy water she was currently washing a patched up pair of trousers in for the kid next door. "Mhm."

"Have you seen the Everdeen's house?" The four year old's voice was genuinely curious. "Have you, Mummy?"

The woman smiled; an action which crinkled her whole face like the shirts strewn across the boys' bedroom floor, yet still, somehow, served to make her prettier. "I have, Posy. _I_ helped to put the decorations up, remember? You were there, weren't you, dear?"

Posy nodded brightly. "Yeah."

* * *

Gale came home from school, Vick and Rory trailing behind him. His face bore a look that could probably kill a tiger. He was _angry_.

Posy didn't notice this. Or, maybe, she did, and decided to hug him anyway. One thing's for sure; was she anyone else, Gale most certainly would _not_ have picked her up and whirled her round, laughing, with all that anger temporarily forgotten.

However, it _was_ Posy, so that's precisely what Gale did.

"What's the matter with _you_?" Hazelle asked from her seat. It was the chair Posy had perched upon earlier in the afternoon, only Hazelle had turned it away from her wash basin and was using it as somewhere to sit whilst she sewed up the holes in her sons' socks. "I know that face, Gale Hawthorne."

Holding Posy in his arms, and trying to ignore the face that she was pulling on the dark hair at the back of his head, Gale shot his mother a lame excuse for a smile. "Nothing's wrong."

"_Gale_." Hazelle drew out firmly, raising an eyebrow.

Vick walked around his eldest sibling and his youngest, not bothering to even look at his mother as he trilled, "Gale had an argument."

"With who?" Hazelle looked at her eldest son accusingly.

"It's al_right_, Mum." He assured her. "Just Thom, over some girl, it's alright."

"Madge Undersee." Vick chimed in again. "Gale was being _mean_ about her again, and then Thom told him to shut up."

"It was quite funny, actually." Rory added, holding back a snicker.

His face full of thunder once again, Gale settled Posy back down on the floor before turning to face Vick. "Right. You're going to _pay_ for that."

Vick screamed and ran, swiftly pursued by his oldest brother. Rory started to laugh, but hurriedly stopped when he heard Gale's voice shout from the bedroom "You're next, Rory."

The Hawthorne brother in question looked anxiously at his mother, at the front door, and back over at Hazelle once more. "I think I might go visit the Everdeens, if that's alright with you."

Hazelle smiled knowingly and nodded. "Have fun."

Rory wasn't even halfway to the door before Posy launched herself at him. "Can I come? _Please_, Rory? Please? I'll be good, I promise! Please? Please, please, please, please,"

"Alright." Rory interrupted. When his sister got started with these things, she could keep going for hours. Literally. "Come on."

The littlest Hawthorne sibling squealed excitedly and grabbed his hand, dragging him from the house. They could still hear Hazelle's chuckling halfway down the road.

* * *

Rory slipped his hand from Posy's as they neared the Everdeen household, immediately regretting it. Posy, as he should've known she would, ran straight for Lady's pen, climbed up onto the top rung of the fence, and leant over, trying to pat the goat.

Rory just about managed to drag her away before Lady made a meal of his sister's worn, patched pink dress.

The two Hawthorne children stood outside the door of the small, shabby Seam house.

"Be good, okay?" Rory whispered.

"'kay." Posy agreed.

He reached up and knocked on the wooden door. There was a scuffle behind it, before the door was eventually pulled open by none other than Primrose Everdeen.

"Rory!" Prim greeted, somewhat surprised. "Posy!" She looked over her shoulder. "Mum, it's just Rory and Posy."

She took a step back and gestured for the two Hawthorne siblings to enter. Posy's hand found her brother's once again and he led her inside, Prim closing the door behind them.

From the awestruck expression etched upon the four year old's face as she gazed around the room, you'd never suspect that she'd seen the Everdeen's decorations before. Prim smiled proudly; this had been mostly her doing, after all.

In the Seam, few people could afford the lavish decorations that adorned the town square at this time of year, or the resources to make their own. When it came down to the battle between Christmas decorations and enough food to scrape by, the latter always won out. Mrs. Everdeen, in a rare bout of consciousness, had allowed her youngest daughter to use a few of her old ribbons, pieces of jewellery, from her Merchant days to make decorations. And what a wonderful job Prim had made!

Pieces of various coloured ribbons and laces ran around the picture rail, with the odd ring or earring hanging from them at various intervals for extra sparkle. In the far corner, there stood a large twig, which was covered in shiny pebbles and beads.

As far as Posy was concerned, this was out of some kind of fairytale.

"To what do I owe the pleasure, Mr. Hawthorne?" Prim asked Rory, the proud smile still lingering on her pretty face.

"Vick and I told on Gale." The boy grumbled.

Prim nodded in understanding. "Well, what should we do, then?"

Rory shrugged; how should _he_ know? The two twelve year olds looked down at Posy, at the way she was still staring round the room in amazement, and then back at each-other. The grins on their faces could not have been more similar.

* * *

Posy walked with Rory back towards home, her hand gripping his tightly in the darkening evening light. Prim walked on the other side of Rory, Katniss' hunting satchel slung over her shoulder. It must've been heavy, because the youngest Everdeen sister was walking at a slightly funny angle. For the life of her, Posy couldn't figure out why Prim would be going hunting. Katniss went hunting, Gale went hunting. Prim _liked_ animals, didn't she? And not to eat.

Upon entering the Hawthorne house, they found Gale sprawled across the aged, under-stuffed sofa. Hazelle still sat in the same chair as before, although the pile of socks to be sewn had diminished significantly. Vick sat by Gale's feet, reading a worn old copy of _George and the Dragon_; one of the few books the Hawthorne family had to their name.

"Hello, Prim." Hazelle greeted.

Prim smiled in response. "Hello, Hazelle. How are you?"

"I'm fine, thanks. I trust you are, too?"

"I am indeed." Prim slung her sister's satchel off of her shoulder and set it down on the floor by her feet.

"Why do you have Katniss' hunting bag?" Gale asked suspiciously, swinging his legs over Vick's head (the poor boy ducked to avoid being kicked) and standing up, heading over. "Prim, the last time we tried to take you hunting, it was a _disaster_!"

Prim grimaced. "I know. But this isn't hunting gear."

"Well, what is it then?" The eldest Hawthorne sibling pressed.

"Give her space, Gale!" Hazelle called from across the room.

Gale, grudgingly, took a few steps back, although he continued to watch suspiciously as Prim flipped the satchel open and pulled out a piece of deep purple ribbon, which she handed to Rory wordlessly.

Rory took the piece of ribbon across the room and held it up against the mantelpiece that ran along the underside of the window. "Here?"

Prim looked over. "Perfect. Hold on." She found a box containing a whole lot of brass pins and tossed it across the room. Rory reached out to catch it, and set to work pinning the ribbon to the edge of the mantel.

Posy was the first to work out what they were doing.

"Prim, can I help?" She asked excitedly. "I won't break anything, I promise! Please, please, please?"

Prim laughed brightly and instructed the little girl to hold her hands out. Posy did so, cupped together, and tried not to jump up and down with excitement as Prim tipped a heap of different coloured beads into them, scooped out from the bottom of the satchel.

"Go ask Hazelle for some thread." Prim advised pointedly.

Posy nodded enthusiastically and dashed across the room, a trail of beads that had escaped the clutches of her hands trailing the floor behind her. Gale followed behind her, stooping to pick up beads every time he came across one.

"Mummy," Posy chirped.

Hazelle looked up from her sewing, pretending she hadn't overheard any of the conversation between her daughter and the youngest Everdeen. "Yes, dear?"

"Can I have some thread, please?"

"Well, as you asked so nicely…" Hazelle set the sock down on her lap and reached down for the sewing basket beside the chair, held it out. Posy picked a spool of peachy pink thread and held it out for Hazelle to snip a length from, which she did, before handing said length to her daughter and putting the sewing basket back beside the chair.

"Now what?" Posy looked over at Prim, who was in the process of explaining to Vick exactly what he should do with these pieces of lace. Posy stood there, thread in one hand and an overflowing mountain of beads in the other, feeling very confused.

"Come on, Pose." Gale took the thread from his sister and placed the beads he'd collected from the floor in the hand it left free. "_I_ know what to do."

He sat down on the under-stuffed sofa. Posy followed, puzzled, and sat beside him. She watched with interest as Gale tied a knot at one end of the piece of thread and took a sky blue bead from her hand, threaded it onto the length of pink. And, since the knot was there, the bead didn't fall off. He did this a further three times, each with a bead of a different colour, before asking Posy if she wanted a go.

She held out a bright yellow bead to him. "You're much better at this. I'll pick the colours, though."

Gale grinned. "If you insist." He wasn't about to admit that threading beads onto a length of thread was actually pretty fun. But it was.

* * *

Three hours later, and the Hawthorne household looked like a dream. Rory had pinned ribbon along the mantelpiece and, with some help from Gale, around the picture rail, too. Vick had fringed the front doorframe with lace, along with the door to each of the two bedrooms, and to the kitchen. Gale and Posy had finished two threads of beads, and had strung them up from the ceiling, stretching from side of the room to the other. Prim had even suggested that Hazelle followed the age old tradition of 'Christmas stockings', with the two of them picking out five of Gale's biggest socks- one for each member of the Hawthorne family- and pinning them up above the fire place.

Rory and Prim shared a sly smile as Posy stared around the room with that sense of amazement she'd possessed in the Everdeen's house. Indeed, it was like a magical spell had been cast over the house, as _everyone_ was smiling soon. Even Gale, and his smiles are usually a hard thing to merit.

The trance was interrupted by the front door opening and Katniss striding in, her breath ragged, as though she'd just run halfway across the Seam. She probably had.

"Just got back from the woods." She explained quickly. "Prim, hunting bag," Her eyes scanned the room before settling on her little sister. "_God_, Prim." She practically staggered forward and pulled Prim into a tight hug. "Tell me next time, or leave a note, or something."


End file.
